


A bird dancing on a string

by Ostodvandi



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Alternate Universe - Ballet, Fluff, M/M, Mutual Pining, One Shot, Yearning, no beta we die like Glenn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-06
Updated: 2020-04-06
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:33:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23511661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ostodvandi/pseuds/Ostodvandi
Summary: After several hours of exhausting practice, Sylvain offers to help Yuri and accompany him home.
Relationships: Sylvain Jose Gautier/Yuris Leclair | Yuri Leclerc
Comments: 4
Kudos: 25





	A bird dancing on a string

**Author's Note:**

> HAPPY BIRTHDAY CERI THIS IS FOR YOU.
> 
> This is an au my friend Ceri and I have been thinking about for a while now, in which Dolores (Sylvain's mother) has a ballet company and, instead of being adopted by Rowe, Yuri is found by her and she offers to educate him as a ballet dancer. Yuri accepts and Sylvain, tragically, develops Feelings.
> 
> A small warning for bruises and stuff typical to ballet but it isn't very explicit anyway. Just in case. Also the ~poetry~ gets a little pretentious at times I feel, but idk if that is warning-worthy.

Yuri has always reminded him of birds. Creatures he’d barely see in the cold lands of Gautier, that made the sky their realm and kingdom, away from his grasp. Someone that couldn’t be caged, that would do the impossible and would make him lose his breath like the vision of birds in migration.

Like them, Yuri would eventually go to warmer lands, probably to the south. Safer places away from the frost and the misery, while the winter foxes are left behind scavenging in the snow. And that would be Sylvain’s future: To stay behind and inherit Gautier, survive, and protect the border.

He wouldn’t say he’s a jealous person, but he longs for Yuri and his freedom, so much it pains him. When he looks at him during moments like these, while Yuri practices for their next rehearsal alone in the dimly lit room that is usually filled with ballerinas, he can almost grasp it. His hand on the small of Yuri’s back, his fingers intertwined, their foreheads touching right before the next step happens, before Yuri flies away from his grasp once again.

Some would compare him to a swan, but Sylvain calls him a mockingbird.

The mockingbird stops dancing, and Sylvain can hear his heavy breaths of exhaustion, see the hair falling off his bun. ‘For how long have you been practicing, my mockingbird?’

‘At least four times how long you’ve been watching,’ he murmurs, sitting down on the floor to take off his ballet shoes, revealing deeply bruised feet and ankles. Yuri grimaces. ‘Be useful and bring me a basin with hot water, will you?’

‘Sure,’ Sylvain nods and gets to do just that, knowing the building like the palm of his hand. This is the closest thing to a second house for his mother, and thus for Sylvain as well, so he soon finds a basin and gets some water out of a pump, warming it up in the kitchens. At this point in the evening, there is almost nobody else besides Yuri and him. Not even Miklan would visit at these hours. Since he’s at it, he gets a stool as well, before walking back into the rehearsal room.

Yuri is still sitting on the same spot, massaging his legs when Sylvain walks in, and he shoots the redhead a smile. ‘How efficient.’

‘Thank you,’ he sets the basin of water on the floor and puts the stool next to it. With a groan, Yuri gets up and limps his way to the stool, a fleeting detail that still doesn’t escape Sylvain’s eyes. He’s an expert in Yuri’s movements, after all. ‘Something wrong, bird?’

‘No,’ Yuri says immediately, sitting down and sighing in relief when his feet are finally in the warm water. ‘Just classic dancing pain, fox. You wouldn’t know.’

Indeed he wouldn’t, because, despite his interest in his mother’s specialty, his father would never allow him to even try it out. He could appreciate it, of course, any good noble is supposed to appreciate the arts, he could be knowledgeable of it, because girls loved that. But never anything else.

He thought that was fine until Yuri joined the ballet company owned by his mother and revolutionized many things in his life. He tried harder than anyone else, practiced longer than anyone else, cared more than anyone else, to the point of hurting himself on the process sometimes. Something lady Gautier would scold him often for and Sylvain would worry about all the time.

His father would be so frustrated with him if he knew, he would probably say someone of his status has better things to worry about, but what could be more important than his beloved mockingbird? Nothing.

Because seeing him dance, beholding his rare genuine smiles, hearing his voice and touching his hand or hair are the things that still give Sylvain something similar to a purpose he can be happy with. Inheriting Gautier is as useless as a match in the middle of the Srengi plains. But Yuri is different, Yuri is like a whole ray of sunlight shining down on him, just as elusive, distant and fascinating as the king of the sky. 

‘Feeling better?’ he murmurs, leaning on one of the bars close to the mirrors, and Yuri nods.

‘Thanks to a very efficient fox, yes.’ He sighs, finally letting his shoulders drop and his whole body relax. For a while, only the howling of the wind outside and a meter of space is between them, and Sylvain so desperately wants to get close, undo his bun so his violet hair can cascade down his shoulders, stroke his neck and cheeks, and perhaps his lips as well. ‘I should go back home soon.’

‘I’ll accompany you,’ Sylvain says quickly, and he hears Yuri scoff.

‘I can defend myself.’

‘I know, but you know what my mother always says about caution,’ Sylvain mentions, knowing lady Dolores is a minor weak point of Yuri’s. He walks until he’s within Yuri’s vision, winking at him. ‘Besides, maybe I just want to be by your side a little longer.’

Yuri laughs this time, and it’s a sound as beautiful as the finest music of the Adrestian orchestra. ‘You’ve never been very subtle in your affections, haven’t you?’

‘Being subtle is not my style, mockingbird.’

Yuri’s smile widens, slightly crooked. ‘Oh, truly.’ He pushes the basin away and wipes his feet with his towel, brows furrowed when he touches bruised skin. ‘Wait for me at the entrance. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.’

Sylvain nods, walking out of the room and closing the door behind him. The sole of his boots makes an unbearable noise against the stairs as he walks down to the entrance, where the guards keep a fireplace burning day and night. Outside, the wind has subsided, but it’s still snowy and misty. Not ideal weather for a ballet star to go back home alone all things considered, as much as Yuri knows how to bury a knife into someone’s stomach.

As promised, after a little over fifteen minutes he’s there. His hair is now free to fall over his ears and neck, protected under a hat made of thick animal fur, the rest of him sheltered within a matching coat. ‘You actually waited, huh. I’m honored.’

But he’s only being half sincere. Sylvain can recognize some wary cynism when he hears it because he’s the same. Never let yourself get too excited about anything, seems to be their mutual motto, and it works just fine. It makes the mutual chase all the more intriguing. 

‘I said I would,’ is all Sylvain replies, with no ugly feelings in his own voice. 

They walk out of the small building together, arms rubbing against each other with the mist as an excuse. ‘Please, don’t tell your mother about that extra training.’

‘I won’t,’ Sylvain murmurs but shakes his head in worry. ‘But you know she’s only concerned about you overworking yourself. In ballet, if you go too far…’

‘You can ruin it all,’ Yuri completes, with an exasperated sigh. ‘I am aware, and I’ve been told so many times, fox. But too many things depend on me doing not only well, but spectacularly well.’

Sylvain, of all people, knows just how stubborn his mother can be about the things she’s passionate about - Yuri’s education being amongst those - but this time, she has a point. ‘Precisely because of that, you should be careful.’

Yuri snorts. ‘And if I got injured and couldn’t dance anymore?’

‘Oh, I wouldn’t want to breathe the air of a world where Yuri Leclerc doesn’t dance,’ Sylvain says dramatically, but there is some truth to his words. ‘But in that case, I might just ask for your hand in marriage, so I still have an excuse to keep you close.’

‘Is that so.’ Yuri laughs shortly, covering his mouth with his gloved hand, just like lady Gautier does. ‘Well, perhaps I should feign injury then, and marry you to live comfortably for the rest of my days.’

If those words were spoken by anyone else, Sylvain would feel his heart sinking, his childhood fears and monsters creeping up on him once again. But he knows Yuri: He is too dedicated, too independent to even seriously contemplate something like that. He would die before he depends completely on someone else after a life of paving his own path with the cards the Goddess has given him.

‘I’d rather still have my dancing mockingbird,’ Sylvain mentions after a while, shyly sliding one arm around Yuri’s waist, his hand resting on the small of his back. Yuri doesn’t say a word, but Sylvain notices a smile, one of the few genuine ones, so he leaves his hand there for the rest of the path to his home. 

Yuri’s place is small, a one-person house with everything he needs. Not especially luxurious, but a comfortable and warm space that Sylvain takes a peek at when Yuri opens the door and turns to him, purple eyes fixed on Sylvain’s own.

‘May I ask you something, fox?’

Sylvain’s eyebrows raise in curiosity, but he nods. ‘Yeah. I’m listening.’

‘Would you walk into my house and spend the night here if I let you?’

His heart immediately starts thrashing against Sylvain’s ribs, but he must keep it together. And he manages, somehow. ‘With pleasure.’

That crooked smirk appears on Yuri’s lips again, and Goddess, they look as soft as velvet and as sweet as plum. ‘Even if it would spark up nasty rumors?’

Sylvain snorts, putting his hands behind his neck. ‘Nothing  _ has  _ to happen, of course. But I’m irresistible, you’re irresistible… Some people might think something did happen. Would you risk it, my mockingbird?’

‘Mmh, I shouldn’t,’ Yuri laments, shaking his head. ‘And yet...’

Sylvain leans down. ‘Yet?’

Yuri gets closer and stands on his toes, seeming like he’s about to whispers something in Sylvain’s wear. Instead of that, he presses a kiss against his cheek, leaving a faint mark of lipstick against it.

‘Nothing. Thank you for accompanying me.’ He goes back to standing on his soles and walks back some steps. ‘Get back home safely, fox.’

With his heart dangerously close to bursting into a million pieces, Sylvain breathes out mist and nods. ‘Rest well, mockingbird.’

His bird offers him yet another smile, before closing the door that stands between the two. It keeps snowing outside, and he must erase the lipstick mark before someone sees it, but nobody can erase the sheer bliss in Sylvain’s chest as he heads back to Gautier manor. 

**Author's Note:**

> I have [a Twitter account](https://twitter.com/Ostodvandi) where I talk about Fire Emblem a lot.


End file.
